12/03/2017
Blog post #1 -Intro.
About 5 years ago I bought a friend of the families miata. Only owners were he and his Father, it ran great and I was handed a binder with every receipt for service since new.
Over time I replaced a lot of parts and eventually ended up with a relatively quick 1.8 miata. Slowly building the car to be able to handle more and more power. I wasn't even sure how I was going to get more power, along the way I had tons of people telling me to turbo it, or s/c it, "put a v6 in it" etc.. sure you pay for it was what I would say. After watching so many builds go from one set up to another 6 months down the road it just never made sense to me to dump money into it.
Eventually one morning on the way home, the little motor finally popped doing 65 mph on the freeway. 293k miles annnnd kabang. While walking home I started to form a solid plan. A Chevy LS motor was going to find it's way into the little baby miata, without a kit.
First thing I did was make a call back up north to a couple buddies. Located a mustang termi t56 that couldn't get into 3rd gear, easy fix, bell housing, input shaft and some synchros and were ready to rock. Next I found a L33 aluminum 5.3. Thought I was all set until cody cracked it open and found some melted mains. Little frustrated but most push forward. After scouring the LS pages I finally found someone in GA willing to part ways with their complete LS6 intake and ported TB. Eventually after searching with no luck I found a ls1 shortblock for sale and the seller worked with me on a price.
Ive gotten lucky so far and have gotten some great prices from old and new friends while collecting the new heart of the miata.
-150$ rough t56 out of a termi
-250$ aluminum 5.3 LS. (First engine i bought)
-375$ complete LS6 intake with ported throttle body, fuel rails, injectors and all sensors.
-250$ LS1 shortblock
The goal is to make somewhere around 400whp and drive ol girl into the sunset.
Sorry for the lengthy intro. From here on out it will be the fabrication of the build as well as keeping track of expenses and any hiccups we get along the way. This build is the brainchild of C&T Performance & Paint, Executive Auto Sport and Midnight Mojo Garage. With help from Buck Greenway, and the mad scientist himself Palmer.